Brenna presented her work on an in-depth investigation of the financial concerns of STEM majors at the 2024 Showcase of Undergraduate Scholars. Congratulations Brenna!

Hunter and Max presented their work on perceptions of student-created videos in an Organic Chemistry course at the 2024 Showcase of Undergraduate Scholars. Congratulations Hunter and Max!

Leila presented her work on perceptions of inclusion and exclusion in an online course at the 2024 Showcase of Undergraduate Scholars. Congratulations Leila!

Laura presented her work on the development of neuroscience-based lesson plans to promote student success at the 2024 Showcase of Undergraduate Scholars. Congratulations Laura!

Sai presented her work on the financial concerns of STEM students at the 2024 Showcase of Undergraduate Scholars. Congratulations Sai!

Shea successfully defended her dissertation on April 15. She gave an excellent talk! We are so proud of all her hard work! Congratulations, Dr. Carr, and best of luck to you at Centre!

Sai presented her research at the National Conference for Undergraduate Research in Long Beach, CA. She had a wonderful experience! Congratulations Sai!

Mary has accepted a postdoctoral scholar position at Middle Tennessee State University in STEM education. She will be defending in July 2024. Congratulations, Mary!

Sai's abstract has been accepted for a poster presentation at the 2024 National Conference for Undergraduate Research. Congratulations, Sai!

Shea has accepted a tenure-track position in the Biology department at Centre College. She will begin in Fall 2024. Congratulations Shea! 

Mary presented at the 2023 SABER meeting about her project investigating the effect of a utility value intervention in introductory biology. 

Shea presented at the 2023 SABER meeting about her project analyzing the effect of case-based simulations in an online physiology lab course. 

Dr. O presented about the use of drawings on exams in Introductory Biology at the 2023 SABER meeting. 

Former lab member Reagan began pharmacy school in July. She marked the occassion with a white coat ceremony. Congratulaions Reagan!

Shea received the TH Morgan fellowship for the upcoming academic year. The fellowship will allow her to focus on her research during the Fall 2023 semester. Congratulations Shea!

Dr. O was officially promoted to Associate Professor with tenure on July 1.

The BLAM lab celebrated a great year! Here's to new adventures!

Mary and Shea's work was accepted for poster presentations at the Society for the Advancement of Biology Education Research 2023 national meeting in July. Mary will be presenting her work "Assessing the effect of utility value activities on student motivation and course outcomes in an introductory biology course." Shea will be presenting her work on the effect of case-based learning on motivation in an online physiology course. 

Dr. O will be presenting a short talk "The Use of Student-Generated Drawings is an Effective Test-Taking Strategy in Introductory Biology". This talk represents work from multiple past and present lab members including Avani, Aakshi, and Shea. 

Aakshi presented her work "Diagrams on Biology Cheat Sheets are Correleted with Positive Exam Outcomes" at the Showcase of Undergraduate Scholars. Great job Aakshi!

Hope and Reagan presented their work "Investigating the Effects of Major on Motivation in Introductory Biology Students" at the Showcase of Undergraduate Scholars. Great job Reagan and Hope!

Courtney presented her work "Positively-phrased Electronic Instructor Talk is Associated with Favorable Perceptions of an Introductory Biology Course" at the Showcase of Undergraduate Scholars. Awesome job Courtney!

The BLAM lab had a great time at the Showcase of Undergraduate Scholars!

Brenna's work investigating the financial difficulties faced by STEM majors was presented to the Biology and Neuroscience faculty at a faculty meeting. Her results sparked great conversations about how faculty can better support our students and will be influential in curriculum reform efforts.  

Courtney, Aakshi, Reagan and Hope will be presenting posters at the Undergraduate Research Showcase on April 26. 

Reagan has been accepted into pharmacy school at Sullivan University. Congratulations Reagan!

Courtney's proposal has been accepted for a poster presentation at X-DBER. She will be presenting on the effect of electronic instructor talk on student perceptions in introductory biology.

Mary Foley and Kara Jones designed this lovely display for the holidays.  It's a work of art! Thanks Mary and Kara, for getting us in the holiday spirit!

Dr. O presented at the 2022 S-STEM symposium in Washington, DC, where she was able to learn from other S-STEM programs. 

On September 8, Dr. O gave her promotion and tenure seminar where she was able to share the lab's work with colleagues and family. 

Five undergraduate researchers will be joining the lab in the Fall. Welcome Reagan, Hope, Brenna, Aakshi, and Courtney!

Mary Foley is joining the lab in Fall 2022 as a Research Assistant. She will be designing and implementing an intervention to address the motivation of upper-level students in introductory biology. Welcome to the lab Mary!

.Dr. Osterhage has been accepted to the 2022 LASER (Learning Analytics in STEM Education Research) institute, where she will be learning how to use learning analytics to improve undergraduate STEM education. 

.Our proposal about first-year and upper-level student motivation was accepted for a paper presentation at SABER 2022.  Dr. Osterhage presented the work at the University of Minneapolis in July. She had a wonderful time at the meeting and met some amazing colleagues. 

.Our proposal "Instructor support during COVID-19: Investigating the relationship with undergraduate students’ motivation and achievement in STEM" has been accepted for a paper presentation at the Tenth SELF International Conference in May. Utku and Dr. Osterhage presented the paper virtually - it was a great conference.

. The new S-STEM program was highlighed in UKY Research News on February 17. Check out the article HERE.

. Jennifer Osterhage (PI) and other members of the Biology and Neuroscience departments have been awarded a $1.5 million grant from the National Science foundation to support undergraduate students from low-income backgrounds.  The grant funds will support 45 student scholarships and curricular and co-curricular support to develop students' self-efficacy, sense of belonging, and science identity through mentoring, research and internship experiences, and workshops. We are excited to be able to support our students!

You can find more information about our S-STEM program here:

https://bio.as.uky.edu/s-stem

.In December 2021, Utku, Jaeyun and Dr. Osterhage presented their research at a Teaching and Learning During COVID-19 research symposium at the University of Kentucky. Their presentation was titled "Instructor support during COVID-19: Relationship with undergraduate students' motivation and achievement in STEM." 

Utku arrived on UK's campus in August.  He has settled in Lexington and is meeting new friends and peers and learning a lot about the United States. He joined the BLAM lab as a research assistant and is currently pursuing a Ph.D in Educational Psychology.

Avani is a junior undergraduate student with plans to attend dental school after graduation. In Spring 2022, she will be working on a project investigating if drawings help students on exams. Welcome to the lab Avani!